Bed-bottom



UNrrED STATES rA'rENr oEEroE.

vHIRAM TUCKER, OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

'BED-BOTTOM.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 36,429, dated September 9, 1862.

To all whom 'llt 'may concern:

Be it known that I, HIRAM TUCKER, of Newton, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Bed-Bottom for Bedsteads, which I call the Undulating Bed-Bottom and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation o-f the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making part of this Specification, in which- Figure 1, is a longitudinal section taken centrally through one of the slats and through the head and foot rail of the bed bottom, showing the slat as deected under the weight of the body. Fig. 2 is a similar section showing the slat when not so deflected, and Fig. 3, is an isometric perspective of the whole bed bottom.

The same letters indicate like parts in the several figures.

My invention consists in a bed bottom constructed with flexible slats, extending lengthwise of the bed bottom, made fast at thebfoot end, and capable of free movement to a certain extent on the line of the length of the slats, but not vertically, at the head end, when the weight of the body is imposed, and, between the middle of their length and the foot end, braced to prevent deflection at that point, whereby the slats are made to assume under pressure an undulating or wave line.

In that form opening bed bottom which is represented in the drawings a is the head rail and b the foot rail, between which extends lengthwise a series of flexible slats c, 'parallel to each other and to the side rails of the bed bottom, each slat being at the foot and mortised to the foot rail, and having at the other end bolted tort-s under surface a wire or rod Z (in making the bed bottoms, I use about number seven and a half wire) which projects beyond the head end of the Slat and enters a socket in the head rail so formed that as the slat is deflected under pressure the wire or rod d upon which the head end of it is thus supported may have sufli- 4cient longitudinal play in the socket. The

between the foot rail and the middle of the length of the slats, iS a brace 6, the upper edge of which is above the level at which the slats are secured to the foot rail, which brace extends across the bed bot-tom from side to side and is secured to the side rails,v

the slats passing over and resting upon it.

In the operation of a bed bottom thus constructed, the imposition of the weight of the body, by deflecting that part of the slats which lies between the head rail and the brace will cause the slats to assume along their length the undulating line, the ground character of which is illustrated by Fig. 1. The form of my bed bottom here described is that which I have found most simple and convenient, but it may be varied in several particulars without changing its mode of operation. For instance, the particular means used for connecting the ends of the slats with the headrail is not material, so long as it is such as to give the necessary freedom of movement to the slats at that end of the bed bottom, when pressure is applied; so as to permit them to assume the undulating form before described. So the particular means or place of bracing the slats is not material, so long as they are suitably braced to keep them from deflection at a point between their foot end and the middle of their length, and cause them to assume under pressure the substantial undulating line before described. This undulating line is designed to give accommodation to the trunk of the body, thus making the lengthwise surface of the bed bottom to con# form generally to the outline of the body, and the slats are tobe braced at such a point as will induce the proper undulation in their length for that purpose. Nor do I conne myself to any particular number, size or material of slats, these being only matters of convenience in construction. Nor do I confine myself to the use of independent head and foot and side rails for the support of the slats and cross-brace, as these may be applied in like manner directly to the stand ing rails of a bedstead, if a separate bedbot-tom is desired.

VV hat I claim as my invention and desire 

